I need your grace alone,
by il.cuore
Summary: Majorly AU. When did Simon decide it was time to come back and save Alisha?


The five 'young offenders' leave their orange suits behind for the last time, having struggled through so much since starting their community service, one declares that they have made it. Little do any of them know that the fighting has just begun.

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It is just two weeks after defeating Jesus that the news breaks in the underground community. There has been one too many strange disappearances to cover up. News comes to light that the governments of the world have been busy since the storm; not just Britain. So far they have only vanished the ones that the world forgot, but their desire has shifted, from scientific study, to elimination, and they have left enough family and friends behind to raise the general alarm.

Simon is the first to suggest they go into hiding. He also proposes that no one live alone, so Kelly moves in with Nathan and Marnie and the baby and for the first time in his life, Nathan worries constantly about what will become of those he loves.

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It is purely by coincidence that the community center becomes what it is. One day, a young woman runs past, blood soaking her shirt, just as Marnie goes to fetch groceries. They take her in; do their best to heal her wound. Miraculously, as none of them are doctors, she lives. And recovers. And tells others of the kindness she was shown.

Within two weeks the community center becomes a secret hospital and shelter for those who have evaded the weapons of the task force that has technically never existed. Surprisingly, they fill up almost every night. It is then when the gang realizes that this struggle is bigger than they ever thought, and is going to last a lot longer than they want to think of.

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Days, weeks, months tick by. Every night that the elevator shaft opens to reveal the woman he has fallen so deeply in love with is counted as a miracle. It is in the small hours of the morning after the sweat has dried and he hears her steady, shallow breathing that he allows himself to breathe. It is becoming increasingly difficult.

Each morning when she wakes up, he has recomposed himself and hidden all traces of fear and anxiety behind a knowing weariness in his ever-intense eyes, and she thinks that this is when she can tell no difference between the two of them. Past and present collide and the realization is bittersweet on her tongue.

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They each keep themselves busy with the effort to wage this war that society knows not of. Alisha, Nicki, Marnie and Nathan comprise the staff at the hospital, each day treating wounds that show viciousness of this secret battle.

Kelly has not been seen in months, for she has used her power to take the most dangerous job of all of them. She winds her way into the system as an informant on the misfits, giving out false information and getting what little she can in return from those officials who have been warned to keep their minds blank. She cannot keep contact with her friends, but every two weeks, two notes are slipped under the crack in the community center door; one full of secrets and one full of love for the friends that she does this for.

Curtis, with his half-celebrity status, uses what influence he has to keep the community center off the radar of government. And that is quite enough as far as the others are concerned.

Simon finds his skills best suited for field work. His ability to turn invisible helps him to take the task force by surprise on their raids and his training to be Superhoodie helps him dispose of them before they can dispose of others.

One day, as the blood is drying on his hands, a little girl from the family he has just saved steps forward. She wipes a spot from his face and her hand comes away crimson. She thanks him with something like adoration in her eyes. This night he can hide himself no longer, and Alisha holds his head in her lap as his hands fist in the material of her pajamas and she feels the tears soak through the fabric to her skin, each one a hope lost.

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They live like this for a while, and though none of them will admit it, they grow more more every day.

"_Sometimes I think that was the best time of my life." _

She used to wonder constantly what kind of future they had if their present was a high point. Now Alisha understands what he meant about picking up litter. Now she just wonders why he used the qualifier.

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They continue to fight because there are still good days. Every once and a while, Alisha will come home from the community center without having to wash blood off her hands and Simon will not have seen anything in jumping rooftops. These are the days that they can almost pretend that life is the same as it was before. They make love slowly these nights, memorizing every detail, as if trying to reassure themselves that they're okay, that they've made it through. They never quite succeed, but when she wakes in the morning, he is brushing her hair from her face, smiling at her and she returns it and it is as genuine as it ever was.

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It is following one of these days that the worst happens. Somewhere along the line, a leak was sprung and without warning, the community center is being raided. Everyone does what they can, but the attack is such a surprise that there is little time to do anything before the air is filled with smoke and screams and the tang of blood in the air.

The word devastation has a new meaning to all who were present at the time. The attack last just one hour, and when the smog lifts, the damage horrific in a sense that no one can describe. Alisha can think only of the horror stories of war she was told as a child. Her grandfather's voice rings in her ears as she checks anyone she can find for a pulse, the ratio of silence to life is disturbing in the most base sense of the word. She knows she is in shock, but she does what she can. Helps those who live and closes the eyes of those who don't. When Simon shows up a half hour later, no doubt having heard of the attack in the streets, she can do nothing but stare at him. And Simon thinks that this is the most unreachable she's ever been, even with her power. Among the casualties was Nathan jr., caught in the crossfire, having just turned three the Tuesday previous. The echoes of Marnie's cries are lost among the others who have been injured, but they never quite leave Simon's head, just as he knows the lone tear escaping Nathan's eye will haunt him for the rest of his life.

In the end, it is that Nathan decides that the time to end this has come. Simon and Alisha take a hand each because, what else can be done?


End file.
